Richard Armitage's Admission in Plamegate

Posted on September 13, 2006

In an exclusive interview, Sidney Blumenthal answers the question about Plamegate that the main stream media seems to have overlooked: What is the significance of Richard Armitage's statement that he was one of the leakers in Plamegate?

Liberal Oasis: How do you think the revelation that Richard Armitage was one of the leakers impacts the Wilsons' legal efforts against Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby and Karl Rove?
Sidney Blumenthal: It has no impact whatsoever. I had known that Armitage was that source for a long time, many months, and it has been fairly well known among some people in Washington. It has no bearing whatsoever on the legal case against Scooter Libby on the counts of perjury and obstruction of justice ... which have been filed by the [special] prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald...
...Nor does it have any impact on the reality, of the concerted action, as Fitzgerald put it, taken by key individuals of the Administration including the Vice-President to smear Joe Wilson.
Why did Rich Armitage do this? Rich Armitage was deputy secretary of state, long-time friend of Colin Powell ... Why would he tell Bob Woodward and Robert Novak this?
First of all, he learned it in a document that had been created as a result to provide information within the State Department, after Cheney began his interest in attacking Wilson. That document specifically notes that Valerie Plame's identity as an undercover CIA operative was secret. It's marked with a letter "S." That means secret.
So why did Armitage yap his head off?
Because he's a fool. And he wanted to impress and maintain his relationships with famous journalists, and as a Washington player. He's a gossip. He put what he considered to be gossip above his sworn, written oath to defend the national security of the United States. And for someone with his background, this is extraordinary. So Armtiage is a fool. And what this revelation shows, it's a sad tale of Washington, and really the disgrace of a long-time public servant because of his own foolishness.
But it has no bearing, at all, on the concerted attack on Wilson that was instigated by Cheney, and which involved high members of the Administration. And it has no legal ramifications whatsoever for Fitzgerald's case against Scooter Libby.

So, to sum up. Just because Armitage at the State Department shot off his mouth about Valerie Plame's identity doesn't change the fact that Dick Cheney's office orchestrated a campaign of revenge against Ambassador Wilson by revealing to several journalists that Wilson's wife was a CIA agent. All Armitage's statement did is make him look like a fool and get him added as a defendant in Valerie Plame's civil lawsuit over the willful destruction of her career. It certainly doesn't let anyone else off the hook. In fact, his statement raises more questions than it answers about the scope of who knew of Valerie Plame's identity and why it was revealed to the press.